Destination: North Vietnam
27 February 2017travel food digitalnomad vietnam hanoi sapa halongbay southeastasia asia
Well, better late post than never!
I’ve been always looking for a good flight deal to explore the North of Vietnam. I chose to go at the beginning of December, which was probably a good time because it is the dry season and it’s also not very hot (in the north, nights were sometimes cool).
I arrived at Noi Bai Airport with only the plan of doing Halong Bay (original plans), but no idea how to do tours. After picking up the essentials such as a SIM card (important to be able to use it to call Ubers, and Grab taxis!), it was time to head into town.
Noi Bai airport was surprisingly quite modern. Feels very similar to Madrid Barajas Airport in Spain actually. Even the Vietnam Airlines lounge (OneWorld alliance), feels like the Iberia lounge in Madrid.
The awesome thing about Hanoi, is Uber is a fixed rate from the airport. Though, if there is one thing I would change is that I’ll grab a sim card when I’m in town as it’s a little bit cheaper (and you can get them from almost any store - including hostels).
When I arrived into the old town, I then started shopping for tours. I opted for the Cocktail Cruise then straight after a Sapa Trekking + Homestay package for more nature and hiking.
Day 1
Day one was a bit more relaxed. Getting settled into Hanoi, walking around the old town (and seeing some of the free sights)
Day 2 & 3
Day 2 is where I set off first thing in the morning to Haiphong port (where the boat would pick us all up for Ha Long Bay).
While cruising through halong bay is amazing, the pictures I took don’t do much justice, you have to see it for yourself.
But to conclude the weather was perfect. Blessed with no rain at all for the 2 days. I guess the dry season was good to traveling.
The boat cruise went through Ha Long Bay, through to Lan Ha Bay (off the Cat Ba Island coast) where kayakking through some secluded nooks and crannies was done, followed by diving off the boat into the cold waters (good way to cool off after kayaking).
And along the way also passing through a lot of boats of people living around the area observing how the locals live.
And then finally to Cat Ong Island - which is a private island where the tour group I was part of spent the night for dinner, playing drinking games by the bonfire, and then doing a short trek the next day to the top.
Then it was finally time to head back to Hanoi to start the next portion of the journey, which was a night bus from Hanoi to Sapa town.
The night buses are interesting in that the seats actually recline, although some taller people may have trouble fitting in them. Still I think it’s better than an economy class airplane seat.
Day 4 & 5
After a restful night, arrived in Sapa as advertised (actually the bus arrived at 3 am, but they let everyone sleep until 6 am where all the transfers were waiting). The thing I love about the sleeper buses though was that they provided free water, and did plenty of toilet stops.
Along the way to the homestay, I got to see the amazing sunrise over the valley. The homestay was nestled into a village called “Ta Van”, which is close to a popular bar with expats (Bamboo Bar).
The food served at the homestay was quite good too, and had surprisingly very fast internet (a good thing because the cell data signal in that part of Ta Van was limited to EDGE speeds). So a good thing to sync up at the end of the day with the real world.
Then after some time to relax a bit, it was time to set off for a long hike through the countryside with 2 locals following us sensing opportunities to sell some handcrafted stuff (gotta hustle!).
There was a lot of photo opportunities along the way. Rolling hills, rice paddies, and animals. It was hard to pick and choose without wasting too much time.
Even the architecture of the buildings was cool.
Back at Ta Van for the night
We arrived back at Ta Van a bit earlier than expected, however this gave some time to relax and explore the village before dinnertime.
Also discovered how much the village children loved Snapchat filters too.
Then it was time for a quick dinner (with a lot of yummy home cooked food for our small tour group and another tour group we met staying at the same homestay). Food was plentiful for sure, also all you can drink rice wine too.
Day 5
The next day was a shorter hike to Su Pan (village where our guide was staying - she was nice enough to offer us to take a look at her house, very educational to see how the villagers live), followed by some time to explore Sapa town - before heading back into Hanoi to conclude the tour.
Around Su Pan Village
Around Sa Pa town
The town was quite walkable. Took about 20 minutes (with all my stuff), to get from one end to the other.
I overall miss how hospitable the people were at Sa Pa though. It made the best memories of the trip so far. Hope to get a chance to do Mt Fan Xi Pan sometime though (or at least cheat and take the cable car!)
Day 6 & 7
The final 2 days was more just taking it easy in Hanoi. The architecture has a bit of a french/european influence from the colonial days.
I chose to do a walking tour to get to know the city I arrived in almost a week ago better, and basically try out all the local delicacies such as Bun Cha and Pho.
Highlights
- Bia Hoi Corner - This is the place to get cheap beer (And I do mean cheap at… 25 cents or 5000 dong)
- Hoa Lo Prison Museum - This was used for incarcerating political prisoners during the Vietnam french colonial days, and for US serviceman during the Vietnam war. Very interesting to learn the history from a Vietnam point of view.
- Phở Gia Truyền Bát Đàn and Phở 10 Lý Quốc Sư for Phở Tai Nam.
- Bún Chả Đắc Kim for Bún Chả